Gambits, Endgames, and More

Here we will be looking at a game from round 10 of the recent UTD Invitational event. Here is GM Ramirez - IM Bartholomew with full annotations and commentary:

This game features many interesting moments. First was the opening in which black chose to play the Benko Gambit, where he sacrifices an early pawn but will gain open lines of attack on the queenside. Then once the queens were traded we had an interesting endgame situation where white had the advantage in pawn structure with the two connected queenside passed pawns but black had the better rook activity. It is interesting to watch how white was able to methodically advance his pawns up the board. Another key strategy which white employed in the ending was to restrict the black kingside pawns with the g5 move so that the battle would be on the queenside where he had the advantage.